Flight's were booked a couple of months ago to get the best possible deal on the flights - £70 return (I often get it a bit cheaper, but my friends waited too long deciding which days they wanted to go and it bumped the price up by about £20!)
Still, we got the hotel at a better rate because of repeat visits there - this is a fantastic way to do things BTW. If you like a particular hotel you've stayed at, and especially if it's a "family-run" kinda place, then ask if you can book direct with them in future, rather than going through on-line booking sites... My friend and his Mrs have used this hotel on Raadhuisstraat several times now and got to know the owners quite well. Because we're the more mature types who don't (always
) party all night and set off fire-alarms for fun, I guess the owners are happier to have people they know staying there, rather than a mob of youngsters running up and down the corridors and burning down the rooms! Anyway, they gave us a great discount, so why not?It's a little further out from the centre of town, but very close to Grey Area and Amnesia, with only a little walk to De Dampkring and Tweede Kamer, so very useful... There's an Albert Heijn close by as well for stocking up on those late night munchie session essentials!
We normally go during the week, as it's a bit quieter, but this time as you can see, it's a weekender - should be fun!
The plan will be to head for Barneys as soon as we reach the city (early morning flight) so a good breakfast and a toke nice and early will be on the cards - after killing an hour or so there, a leisurely walk up Herengracht, Rastababy next, with a stop-off at our main staging-post, Amnesia, before booking in at the hotel and dropping off our bags.
The rest of Friday will probably rotate around Amnesia and De Kuil with trips to assorted gems along the way to try out anything new. For the Saturday, I'm treating my two friends to a trip out to Haarlem as they've never been outside of Amsterdam before - Willie Wortels here we come!!!
It's cheap enough on the train, and only a 15 min journey to sample some of the finest Haarlem has to offer, plus it keeps us away from the hustle and bustle of a Saturday afternoon in the centre of the 'Dam! Saturday night will probably be spent chilling out back at Amnesia, with munchies taken care of with either a nice big steak (it's my friend's birthday on the Saturday) or an all-you-can-eat chinese - failing that, you can't beat the Lemongrass Wok on the corner of Oudebrugsteeg and Damrak for value and nice, fresh nosh!
Sunday will probably be the day for trying out some of the places we haven't yet sampled in our many visits, but if our heads are still a little sore, it might just be back to Amnesia yet again - yes, we really do love this place!
Sadly all good things must come to an end, so on the Monday we will try to fit in as much as we can manage (or afford) until the plane leaves in the early evening...
I can't believe it's been nearly a year since my last trip over there - money's been a bit tight this year and the Euro exchange rate hasn't helped much either, but I'm hoping to be over again on a solo mission in the latter half of October... I've booked the time off at work, so it's just getting the plane tickets now if I can stretch to another mini-holiday so soon after the first! Here's hoping...
